kvmb Chapter 318 Si's Little Yao, Bing's Yu'er
Chapter 318 Si's Little Yao, Bing's Yu'er
On the bluestone slab of the West Market Vinegar Shop, Du Xiaobing tapped the vinegar jar with a mulberry wood spoon and began to vent his anger: "Why do you say that my vinegar is mixed with croton seeds? It's clearly those two brothers who are jealous of Niwanzi!"
At this moment, Yu'er was applying rouge to her face in front of the bronze mirror, her index finger dampened with her breath as she gently blended the rouge: "Yesterday, my cousin, who works at the Imperial Kitchen, said that recently some people in the Imperial Palace have been inquiring about 'Western Region laxatives'..."
Before she could finish speaking, there was a knock at the back door of the vinegar workshop. It was Xiao Yao, Princess Sizi's maid, who was holding a brocade box embroidered with lotus flowers.
"Madam Du, the princess said this box of Persian frankincense is for Mr. Niwan to use in his reinstatement." Xiao Yao's Tibetan wool apron was covered with bits of grass, indicating that she had climbed over the wall of Xingqing Palace.
“However…” She leaned close to Du Xiaobing’s ear, “Last night the princess dreamed of a divine deer treading on ice, and she asked me to remind you not to touch the caravans from the sacred lake.”
As Niwan Zi received Captain Cui's reinstatement document at Wangchun Pavilion, the sound of a huqin and a qiang flute playing in the distance drifted over – it turned out to be the Hu Xuan dance troupe in Pingkangfang, where beautiful new Kucha dancers had arrived.
He pulled out the parchment slip that Xiao Yao had secretly given him, which was written in Si Zi's handwriting: "Xiao Yao said you were looking up 'Deer Heart Pill,' and this is a prescription copied from the medical records of the Zanpu."
The paper had three herbs circled in vermilion: "snow lotus, deer tongue grass, and virgin blood." The last herb was crossed out, and next to it was a note: "Xiao Yao's older sister passed away last year, with symptoms similar to those of Si Zi."
Late at night, Du Xiaobing was filtering newly brewed "rose vinegar" in the cellar of the vinegar workshop, while Yu'er held up a candlestick to light the way for her.
A few suspicious withered leaves floated in the earthenware jar; these were the "samples" Xiao Yao had brought during the day. "These are Tibetan 'horse-shedding grass,' specifically used to frame foreign merchants."
Yu'er used a silver hairpin to pick up a leaf. "My cousin said that the Imperial Kitchen has been sending meals containing this herb to a certain VIP lately..."
Before she could finish speaking, the cellar planks suddenly creaked, and Xiao Yao, carrying a basket of turnips on her head, crawled in: "Quick, hide! The Imperial Guards are investigating all the vinegar shops in Xishi!" She wore a string of coral beads on her wrist, a gift from Du Xiaobing last month, which was now deformed from her nervous grip.
On the day Niwan Zi was reinstated, he encountered Wu Hou, who was escorting Song Daqin, on the Tubo post road. A prisoner in the cart suddenly sneered, "Is the Du family's young lady's vinegar workshop about to become a 'tribute vinegar workshop'?"
Niwanzi's heart tightened, and he rushed to the West Market, only to see a gilded carriage from the palace parked in front of the vinegar shop, with Xiaoyao helping the eunuchs load vinegar jars onto the carriage.
"Lord Niwan, come in quickly!" Du Xiaobing waved to him from behind the counter, her eyes gleaming with cunning. "The lady-in-waiting by the princess's side said that the Consort used my vinegar, and the brown spots on her face have faded! However..." She lowered her voice, "Xiao Yao secretly told me that there is also a medicine chest hidden in the carriage, filled with the ingredients for 'Deer Heart Shifting Pill'."
On the night of the Lantern Festival, Niwanzi was invited to Sizi's boat banquet at Qujiang Pool. Xiaoyao led the way, carrying a glass lantern, with three more silver bells tied to her skirt than usual—this was the "emergency signal" agreed upon by Sizi.
As the boat sailed into the middle of the river, the princess suddenly pointed to the reflection on the lake: "Mr. Niwan, look, doesn't that look like the eye of a divine deer?" Under the moonlight, Xiao Yao lifted the cabin curtain, revealing a pile of Tantric ritual diagrams inside, which complemented Fu Jinjie's "Spice Manual".
Du Xiaobing and Yu'er, disguised as dancers, unfurled a scroll painting from their sleeves. It was a map of the location of the Sacred Lake Altar drawn with vinegar juice—a secret document from the Imperial Palace that A-Wan had obtained in exchange for pastries from the Imperial Kitchen.
“The princess’s ‘heart ailment’ was never an illness.” Xiao Yao placed a model of a wolf-headed scimitar into Niwan’s purple palm. “Someone wanted to use her blood to open the secret vault at the bottom of the sacred lake. And my elder sister…” She swallowed, “was the previous ‘divine deer sacrifice’.”
A night breeze lifted the boat curtain, and the distant Big Wild Goose Pagoda echoed with the tolling of the third watch bell. Du Xiaobing filled the rhinoceros-shaped cup with rose vinegar and whispered, "Xiao Yao said that the Zanpu's 'Deer Heart Transfer Pill' requires drinking medicated vinegar mixed with medicine for a hundred days to achieve bloodline compatibility. Ninety days have passed now..."
Niwan Zi gripped the tortoise shell talisman at his waist, combining it with the tortoise shell of the rhinoceros, revealing the two characters "止戈" (stop the war) engraved on the inside—a secret code that Du Xiaobing had obtained with his life.
Xiao Yao suddenly pointed to the lake shore, where Song Daqin's accomplice was mingling among the crowd of lanterns. The deer-shaped tattoo peeking out from his sleeve was in the same handwriting as the secret letter that Yu'er had stolen from the Imperial Food Bureau.
Si Zi gently shook the copper bell beside the carriage, and suddenly hundreds of lotus lanterns lit up around Qujiang Pool, each lantern depicting a divine deer trampling a curved sword.
Xiao Yao pulled out the silver needle hidden in her hair, while Du Xiaobing gripped the leather pouch containing croton powder—this time, they were no longer sheltered young women waiting to be rescued, but were about to cut the threads of fate with their own hands…